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MINI-ADVENTURE

Horning In

A Free Star Wars Miniadventure for the Rebellion Era

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DESIGN

JEFF QUICK

EDITING

RAY AND VALERIE VALLESE

TYPESETTING

SUE WEINLEIN COOK

WEB PRODUCTION

DANIEL STAHL

WEB DEVELOPMENT

THOM BECKMAN

ART DIRECTION

SEAN GLENN

LUCAS LICENSING EDITOR

MICHELLE VUCKOVICH

STAR WARS RPG CREATIVE DIRECTOR

CHRIS PERKINS

VICE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF RPG R&D

BILL SLAVICSEK

©2001 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™ All rights reserved. Used under authorization. Made in the U.S.A.

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The d20 System logo is a trademark owned by Wizards of the Coast. Inc.

This Wizards of the Coast game product contains no Open Game Content. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission.

To learn more about the Open Gaming License and the d20 System License, please visit www.wizards.com/d20.

This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork

contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This product is a work of fiction.

Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events is purely coincidental.

Based on the Star Wars Roleplaying Game by Andy Collins, Bill Slavicsek, and JD Wiker, utilizing mechanics developed for
the new D

UNGEONS

& D

RAGONS

®

game by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison.

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“Horning In”

is a Star Wars Roleplaying Game adventure

for four 10th-level heroes of any persuasion. As written,
the adventure’s set in the Rebellion era, but it can be modi-
fied easily to work in any other era of play as well. Although
the villain of the story flies a ship described in Starships of
the Galaxy

and the scenario calls for a capital ship that also

could be taken from the pages of that accessory, the book
isn’t required to run this adventure.

Background

The rumor mill has been grinding out stories lately about a
new fuel mixture component for sublight engines called a
Quadronomic Fluxer. If rumors are to be believed, Fluxers
can improve sublight speed by as much as 20 percent in
Tiny and Small starships. The component has no effect on
hyperspace, but all the life-or-death work is really done
before the jump is made.

If Fluxers are for real, anybody who flies a transport ship

even semi-regularly would want one. Whether or not it
works, both the Rebellion and the Empire would be willing
to risk a lot to find out if it’s legitimate—and to keep it out
of the hands of the other group.

In reality, the Fluxer hasn’t been built yet, but the theory

is sound, and the plans exist. They are currently held at the
Nessem Shipyards, an orbital shipyard circling the planet
Nessem in the Expansion Region of the galaxy.

Nessem

The inhabitants of Nessem are Human, and they’re very
pleased by the modest success of their shipyards. The
Nessem Shipyards aren’t the largest in the galaxy or the
most modern, but the Nessemites are renowned for their
craftsmanship and their apolitical tendencies. They build
and repair ships for whoever has the money. This causes all
sorts of people to rub shoulders in Nessemite conference
rooms.

Because a significant percentage of the Nessemite popu-

lace lives and works in space stations that make up the vari-
ous orbital shipyards, residential areas on the shipyards are
like small towns. Nessem is not a Core world, but it’s not so
far out that the natives can’t persuade traveling entertainers
and art exhibits to make Nessem a stop on their tours. For a
loose grouping of space stations, the Nessem Shipyards are
fairly happening places to be.

As a result, the Nessemites take great pride in the ship-

yards, and they don’t take kindly to running firefights in the
hallways. Though their clients often are held in ill repute,
the Nessemites won’t let their shipyards become a smug-
gler’s haven. Their security is tight, but not fascistic. The
Empire has an on-site administrator, but the requisite bribes
keep him busy looking the other way.

Getting the Heroes Involved

“Horning In” assumes that the heroes work for the
Rebellion, or at least some patron interested in hiring their
services. The patron sends them to retrieve the plans for the
Quadronomic Fluxer and instructs them to begin by talking
to the Rebels’ inside man, Roald Lasdal. Roald is a shift
foreman working on the sunward strut building a capital
ship, and he has Rebellion sympathies.

Alternately, the heroes might hear rumors of the Fluxer on

their own and try to make a grab for the plans. A scoundrel or
fringer character might have a buddy who works at the ship-
yards and can pass them inside information. A noble might
want to negotiate for the plans to augment his home world’s
planetary defense. And any pilot worth her cockpit would
be interested in learning more about souping up her baby.

Scene 1: Customs Procedures

The adventure begins as the heroes arrive at the main
station of the Nessem Shipyards. Sharing their landing bay
is a Trandoshan mercenary named Ssorku. Ssorku arrives at
the same time as the heroes in The Long Scale, his Koensayr
ILH-KK Citadel-class cruiser (a model of ship described in
the accessory Starships of the Galaxy). He tries to push in
front of the heroes to clear the customs agents sooner and
waits impatiently through every delay.

Ssorku is a largely uninspiring Trandoshan. He’s a profes-

sional mercenary—handy with a blaster and not shy about
using it. He likes to compete, and he doesn’t like Wookiees.
The one thing that makes him stand out is his love of music.
In between mercenary assignments, Ssorku fancies himself a
decent amateur jizz instrumentalist and music critic. He
practically looks for opportunities to argue over the merits of
musical styles and particular musicians. The mercenary also
takes his kloo horn with him on jobs in populated areas, and
he brought it along to the Nessem Shipyards, as well. You
never know when a good opportunity to jam will come up.

A Trandoshan or well-connected mercenary hero might

know some of these details about Ssorku. The music-lover’s
not as well known as Bossk, but he’s no lightweight in the
mercenary world, either. However, it’s not important for the
heroes to recognize or interact with Ssorku right now. They

IS IT LEGIT?

The Quadronomic Fluxer plans are what powers

this adventure. Whether the device (if built) would

actually work as theorized is for the Gamemaster to decide. In
game terms, a Quadronomic Fluxer grants a +4 equipment bonus
to Pilot checks when a character attempts the Increase Range
maneuver. It might work quickly and flawlessly, but the modifica-
tion would probably be more interesting if it were unreliable,
overly noisy, or very expensive to implement.

Other options include:



It doesn’t work as well as advertised. The speed boost is no-
ticeable but gives only a +1 equipment bonus to Pilot checks.



It only works with a certain model of engine, which the heroes
might or might not have access to.



It just doesn’t work.

You could also decide that the Fluxer does indeed work, but let it
trickle down into your campaign and change things more slowly.
For example, an engine manufacturer eventually could acquire
the plans, mass produce the Fluxers, and get fabulously rich off
the contract for speeding up the Empire’s entire TIE fleet. Of
course, the usual collection of lowlifes, scoundrels, and heroes
could also get their hands on a version of the device.

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just need to meet him, or at least observe him. (If the
heroes provoke an immediate battle with Ssorku for some
reason, you can find his game stats later in this adventure.)

Customs agents at the shipyards are strict and efficient,

but not necessarily rude. Vibro and blaster weapons are not
allowed on board the station, and agents are authorized to
search anyone. Lightsabers are unheard of during the
Rebellion era, so a Force-user can probably slip her
lightsaber through customs with a simple enough story (or
mind trick). Other weapons are allowed, but a weapon-
owner’s identity is submitted to the station database.

If any of the heroes do try to bring permitted weapons

on board, the agents duly inform them that the station’s
Imperial administrator, Trivyakna Korl, reviews the list of
new weapons-carriers each morning. They have no desire to
wake the Emperor’s watchdog and offer every reasonable
chance for undesirables to alter their plans accordingly. The
customs officials aren’t lax, and they don’t encourage the
heroes to falsify information—they’re simply interested in
ensuring the shipyards’ well being.

Scene 2: Chatting up the Locals

The heroes won’t have to ask around long before they get
directions to the sunward strut of the station, where Roald
Lasdal works the second shift as a construction foreman. Roald
is a simple type. He’s friendly and straightforward but
doesn’t like to talk out in the open. If the heroes approach
him on the job, he greets them and introduces them to nearby
crewmembers as “friends of the family.” Then he shoos them
off, gives them directions to his family’s home in the residential
district, and tells them to meet him there after his shift.

Once they’re alone at his home, Roald herds his three

children into another room, sits the heroes down around his
kitchen table, and fills them in on the local color.

Roald is a bit of a political spitfire for a Nessemite, having
sided so strongly with the Rebellion. However, like others of
his culture, he prefers to cite facts and let people draw their
own conclusions, rather than try to persuade anyone. If
asked, Roald’s only comment on his planet’s political
choices is, “Neutrality’s an expensive commodity.”

Scene 3(a): Doing it the Hard Way

After the exposition, Roald asks the heroes what their plans
are. He listens to any scheme with the same even temper. He
doesn’t suggest that stealing the plans would be a good
option, but if the heroes mention it, he sets a datapad on
the table and leaves the room “to check on the rugrats.”

The datapad contains schematics of the ventilation

system for the newly constructed capital ship that holds the
plans. Choose an appropriate capital ship from the Star
Wars Roleplaying Game

core rulebook, or from the

Starships of the Galaxy

accessory. A Computer Use check

(DC 15) or Knowledge: Architecture and Engineering check
(DC 10) allows a hero to find the room on the schematics
where the plans are stored. Since the ship hasn’t been chris-
tened yet, several insulated air ducts still lead from the
station to the ship itself, making entry this way fairly
simple.

Following the instructions left by Roald requires a little

more effort. The air ducts in a capital ship are a maze. If the
heroes follow the foreman’s schematics perfectly, reaching
the room where the plans are stored takes only 30 minutes.
However, for each 5 minutes spent trying to follow the
schematics, the heroes must succeed at a DC 15 Intelligence
check to identify and travel the correct path. The group
might want to use the “aid another” rules to help find it.

On the other hand, the heroes might use the station’s air

ducts to get into the ship, then use the ship’s regular corri-
dors to reach the room. They can do this in about half the
time, with no Intelligence checks needed. No one else is on
board, so they’re not challenged.

We’re Number Two:

When the heroes finally reach the

room (by whatever means), they may make a Spot check (DC
15) to notice something amiss. The door is wide open, with
security locks disabled. A Computer Use check (DC 15) veri-

“Okay, here’s what we know. The plans for the
Quadronomic Fluxer were created by a team of Nessemite
designers down planetside. Once the government got
wind of what that was all about, they figured as soon as
word got out, Nessem would be dead center of a big
shooting war. They’re probably right. Anyway, our govern-
ment officials at work—in the interests of fair business—
have decided to sell the plans to the highest bidder.

“Now, that’s gonna happen tomorrow in a sealed-bid

auction. It’s very hush-hush. Not even the Imperial pres-
ence on the station knows about it, though some spies
might show up. Only those with proper diplomatic
credentials will be allowed to enter bids on the plans.

“In the meantime, the plans are being held on a recently

completed capital ship on the sunward strut of the station.
My crew just finished building it, in fact. It’s a beauty. You
might want to take a look at it while you’re here.

“Anyway, anyone who tried to get those plans out of

here before tomorrow would have to slink around in air
ducts to find them and crack some electronic security on
arrival. Coming in the front door would be pretty well near
impossible, what with the droid guards and all. And since
I’m a front-door kind of guy, I don’t reckon that’s the kind
of work I’d be up for.”

TURN UP THE HEAT

If you want to put a little more pressure on the

heroes, you might give the ship’s droid guards a

Spot check (DC 15) to notice life forms moving about in the
supposedly deserted capital ship.

If they do notice the intruders, they dispatch a destroyer droid

to take care of any problems. The ship has plenty of room in
which to run and fight, and while the station itself is crowded,
only the destroyer droid will be on hand in the ship to complicate
matters.

Use the destroyer droid statistics given in the Star Wars

Roleplaying Game

core rulebook. Unlike Trade Federation droids,

this droid operates independently and hunts down the heroes
mercilessly.

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fies that the security has already been cracked, the plans
taken, and the computer’s memory wiped. Someone got
there before they did.

A successful Search check (DC 20) reveals a few reptilian

scales shed in the area of the computer keyboard. There
aren’t too many Trandoshans aboard the mostly Human-
settled space station, and only one that they’ve seen. All the
characters need to do now is find Ssorku.

Scene 3(b): Doing it the Easy Way

If, while talking to Roald, the heroes ask about attending
the auction, the foreman can supply them with the materi-
als needed to forge an invitation. He has no idea what the
invitation looks like, but a savvy slicer (Computer Use DC
25) can tap into the station’s central datacore to find a
sample to help generate a forgery.

It doesn’t matter whether the forgery is successful, since

the plans will have been stolen long before the auction is
scheduled to begin the next day. However, if the heroes
spend the day walking about the station instead of crawling
in air ducts, they run into Ssorku again. This time, however,
he comes across as friendly—even to Wookiees—rather than
brusque and dismissive, and he talks animatedly about a
concert that evening.

If anyone rises to the challenge, Ssorku begins a loud,
forceful, but still friendly argument about nearly any musi-
cal topic. He just seems ready to argue. If no one wants to
take his bait, the Trandoshan leaves.

Give the heroes an opportunity to roll an opposed Sense

Motive check against Ssorku’s Bluff skill. If one of them
succeeds, he or she gets the feeling that Ssorku’s friendli-
ness is the effusively relaxed kind, as if he’d just completed
a stressful task. His slip in saying “flux” instead of “Plox”
also indicates that he’s hiding something.

Later, when the heroes discover (along with the other

auction attendees) that the plans for the Quadronomic
Fluxer have been stolen, Ssorku will have already told them
where to find him.

Scene 4: Hunt the Trandoshan

At this point in the adventure, the political situation on
board has gotten understandably hot, and Roald would
rather not jeopardize his value as a Rebellion contact by
continuing to be seen with the heroes. They’re on their
own. It would be messy for the heroes to try to alert the
appropriate authorities. A dragnet would catch Ssorku, but
then Trivyakna Korl would get involved, and that would
mean Imperial entanglements.

If the heroes want to find Ssorku (and the stolen plans)

on their own, they can ask around and make a Gather
Information skill check. A success at DC 20 leads the char-
acters to Sheffel Nan, a female Human concert promoter
who has a lot of friends in the music world. Unfortunately
for the heroes, Ssorku is one of those friends. If the charac-
ters talk to her, she discreetly alerts the Trandoshan that a
group of people has been asking about him. He’s still going
to be at the concert, but he’ll come prepared for trouble.

Note that if the heroes succeed at a Gather Information

skill check (DC 25), they can track Ssorku down without
going through Sheffel, which means that the Trandoshan’s
guard will be down.

Lounge Lizards

The Starbirth Lounge is a rectangular room with a stage on
one end. It has four doors, two in each long wall, one at the
front, and one at the back. Ssorku hangs out backstage
before the show with his kloo horn in its case. He emerges
just before the show starts and sits at a reserved table front
and center.

The room is dimly lit, and once the concert begins, a haze

of smoke rises to hang near the ceiling. Small, round tables
dot the crowded room. Perhaps 200 people have come to
listen to the band.

If Sheffel warned Ssorku about the heroes, he keeps an

eye out for them during the show, making Search checks
frequently. If he sees one of them, he waits until the end of
the first set, then tries to escape through the stage entrance.
If Sheffel didn’t warn Ssorku, the heroes can try to appre-
hend the Trandoshan at any time. He won’t be watching
out for them—he’s too busy enjoying the show.

Ssorku keeps a sporting blaster hidden in his kloo horn

case. If the heroes seem seriously threatening, the Trandoshan
will draw it and fire at them three times (thanks to the Quick
Draw and Rapid Shot feats). Then he breaks for cover.

And the plans for the Quadronomic Fluxer? They’re

hidden inside Ssorku’s kloo horn, which remains inside the
instrument case. Of course, the Trandoshan reveals their
location to no one without serious persuasion, but a
successful opposed Intimidation check will crack him open.

Ssorku:

Male Trandoshan Scoundrel 4/Soldier 6; Init +1

(Dex); Defense 20 (+8 class, +1 Dex, +1 natural); Spd 10m;
VP/WP 69/14; Atk +12/+7 melee (1d3+3, punch), +10/+5
ranged (3d4, sporting blaster); SQ Better lucky than good,
illicit barter; SV Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +3; SZ M; FP 1; Rep
6; Str 16, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 10.

Equipment:

blaster, kloo horn case, kloo horn, datapad.

Skills:

Appraise +6, Astrogate +9, Bluff +6, Computer

Use +7, Disable Device +7, Entertain (kloo horn) +3, Forgery
+5, Gather Information +6, Intimidate +6, Listen +8, Pilot
+9, Repair +7, Search +9, Sense Motive +2, Spot +7, Treat
Injury +6.

Feats:

Armor Proficiency (light, medium, heavy), Heroic

Surge, Persuasive, Point Blank Shot, Quick Draw, Rapid
Shot, Sharp-Eyed, Skill Emphasis (Entertain: kloo horn), Skill
Emphasis (Computer Use), Weapon Group Proficiency
(blaster pistols, blaster rifles, heavy weapons, simple
weapons, vibro weapons).
Ssorku may be a mercenary, but he’s not the grubby, amoral

“It’s Hova Mensk and the Blurtones; they’re playing
tonight in the Starbirth Lounge on Deck 56. Some music
critics have dubbed them the next big musical sensation
along the Inner Rim, although I find their harmonies to be
derivative of their jizz forbearers, the Sozzenels. I mean,
you can hardly believe otherwise when you know that
their mozz box player studied under the same mozz
legend, Rem Yonka, as the Sozzenels’ Xornu flux—I mean,
Plox. But you’d think they would at least try to hide their
influences a little better.”

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kind—at least, not grubby. He’s willing to talk before he
fights, and he knows when he’s outnumbered. But he
makes sure he has friends wherever he goes, so he’s rarely as
outnumbered as he appears to be.

Cue End Credits

If the heroes end up fighting Ssorku to retrieve the stolen
plans, they might need to make a quick getaway. That’s
because once they’ve recovered the plans, escaping from the
station itself can be as harrowing or simple as they’ve
allowed it to be. More destroyer droids might be in line if
they’ve fired shots. If they caused a serious problem, the
Imperial presence on the station is aroused, and storm-
troopers may also be summoned to stop their escape.

If they can make it back to their ship, customs agents

don’t even slow them down. They want to expedite the
disappearance of troublemakers, letting them get into their
ship so that exterior weapons and TIE fighters can finish
them off outside the station.

About the Author

Sooner or later you're going to wonder, so I'm telling you
now. Jeff Quick is the former Senior Editor of Star Wars
Gamer

and Editor-in-Chief of Star Wars Insider. Now he's

a game designer for WizKids Games. He lives in Seattle.
These things are all as true as the sun.

OTHER ERAS OF PLAY

The Empire, in the form of Trivyakna Korl, keeps

a lazy watch on the Nessem Shipyards. The admin-

istrator is only in the adventure to keep the heroes on their toes
and make them do their own legwork. If they play their cards
right, Trivyakna will neither know nor care that they’re even on
board. Replacing the Empire administrator in another era is as
easy as finding someone with weight to throw around, and some-
one the heroes don’t want throwing at them.

Old Republic Era: The Nessemites have bargained for

protection from the Trade Federation during the Republic era. A
Federation overseer keeps tabs on trade practices and keeps
destroyer droids nearby for emergencies.

The New Jedi Order Era: A crime lord uses the Nessem

Shipyards as her base of operations, keeping the place fairly clear
of opposing criminal elements, but taking her cut of the profits.